“We had no idea when we opened our service window November 11th 2016, that it would be our last service at 1195 Carp Road. We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for all of the love and support we have received over the last 4 seasons. Opening the food truck was such a leap of faith, and we couldn’t have imagined it being as rewarding and successful as it has been. We lost our current spot, but thanks to you we are moving on from the food truck world and looking at locations for a year-round store front shoppe in Stittsville…. onward and up! SO, if we don’t see you in the spring, don’t fret….. there are exciting things coming up!
All our love,
YOUR local ‘Wiches”

Feedmill Creek is sort of a “forgotten waterway” in Stittsville. That’s probably because up until very recently, it traversed mostly undeveloped private property.

The creek starts at the stormwater ponds in Timbermere Park on the west side of Carp Road, heads west underground and then through the future Potter’s Key neighbourhood and north of Jackson Trails, before heading north under the Queensway, then east through the Tanger Outlets mall before emptying into the Carp River.

(Editor’s note: We sent Stittsville neighbour Coreen Tyers to a media preview on Tuesday of the new Cabela’s store, across the street from Tanger Outlets in Kanata. The store opens to the public on September 22. All photos by Coreen Tyers.)

The store is gorgeous, well lit, and carries a varied selection without being overwhelming. With 70,000 square feet of floor space, the store is very well laid out and signed and each interest has a section, whether it be camping, fishing (fly fishing has its own corner), hunting with bows or guns, technical clothing, preparing ands preserving what you’ve caught, to home decor and camo lingerie too. Continue reading →

TRAFFIC’S KEY FOR MINTO PLAN
City planner Patricia McCann-MacMillan sent out an atypically frank email to residents who submitted comments on Minto’s proposed Potter’s Key development. The email summarized what’s next for Minto and the City. Continue reading →

Every week we get lots of comments from our readers on our web site, via email, and social media. Here’s a sample of what we heard this week. Add your thoughts to the comments at the bottom of this article or email feedback@stittsvillecentral.ca.

(Above: This old crab apple tree just south of Tanger Outlets led archeologists to the site of a the 19th century Burroughs Farm. Photo by Glen Gower / September 2015.)

It’s hard to imagine Kanata/Stittsville without an NHL arena, without big box stores, without the Queensway. But every once in a while, we get a little reminder of what this area used to be like when it was known as one of the finest farming communities in Eastern Ontario.

Within the next couple of years, pending development approvals, the second phase of Tanger Outlets will be built, including a hotel and restaurants. Phase two will be built between the Queensway and Feedmill Creek, the waterway that flows from west to east across the property.

According to the development plan, archeological features next to the creek will be preserved and incorporated into the landscaping of a park on the site.

Turns out the speculation was true: Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH is opening at Tanger Outlets in 2016. Here’s the official press release.

Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH is excited to reveal its first three store locations in Canada as it prepares to enter the Canadian marketplace next year. Three Ontario cities – Ottawa, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Vaughan (just north of Toronto) – will welcome Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores in spring 2016. This much–anticipated announcement identifies the first of up to 25 locations that Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH plans to open nationwide. Continue reading →

The February Town Hall meeting will follow a different format with the first part being presentations on new developments for the Tanger Mall and Cabela’s and the Bridge Church. The second part will consist of a brief outline of the City Budget for 2015 and the impact on Kanata North followed by a discussion on the budget (to be approved on March 11) and on what should be included in term of Council priorities (which will be debated in May). The agenda will follow these lines:

Presentation on Cabela’s Sports Store and other retail stores coming near Tanger Mall

The Bridges Church Expansion

Presentation on City Budget for 2015 (including Kanata North

Projects such as Klondike construction, a new bus route,

Knudson traffic calming and more)

Information on term of Council priorities, including a multi-use path for Campeau

Table discussions on the budget and Council priorities

All issues, suggestions and concerns regarding Kanata North are welcome and will be noted and referred where appropriate. Come and join in on the conversation about your community and support me in dealing with issues, concerns and the future needs in Kanata North.

The City of Ottawa has received a site plan control application from RioCan for Phase 2 of the Tanger Outlets complex. It includes plans for a six-storey hotel and six free-standing restaurants.

Phase 2 is located to the south of the existing mall. The 134-room hotel will be tucked in next to the Queensway, with the restaurants surrounding it to the north. 420 car parking spaces and 22 bike parking spaces are included in the plan.

There are two road entrances to the site, one via Huntmar Drive and the other connecting to the existing Tanger parking lot.

According to the plan, archeological foundations on the on the west side of the creek that runs through the development will be “preserved and featured through a landcape treatment on the site”.

No word yet on what the restaurants will be, or what brand of hotel. Those details usually come later in the planning process.

We live in a safe city. However, as police, we recognize that there are fluctuations in crime to which we must be prepared to respond.

While reported crime is down, there has been an increase in targeted, street gang-related shootings. These incidents have taken place across the city, in various neighbourhoods, and with the common linkage being the illegal drug trade, the availability of hand guns, and the increased willingness of street gang members to use them. Continue reading →

A 26 year old man has been arrested and is facing numerous charges after a shooting incident at the Tanger Outlet Mall on December 26. The Ottawa Police Guns & Gangs Unit arrested and charged Yaqoub ALI of Ottawa yesterday.

“Gun violence and the gang activity associated with it is an enforcement priority for our Service and this arrest is the direct result of hard work by our officers,” said Ottawa Police Acting Chief Jill Skinner. “Investigations into other shootings in Ottawa remain underway and we are significantly increasing the number of Guns & Gangs investigators looking into those cases.”

In 2014, Ottawa Police made 83 arrests of gang members and associates and seized 53 crime guns – more than half of them were handguns. Direct Action Response Team (DART) officers continue to monitor offenders to ensure compliance with court conditions. A total of 26 gang associates have been found breaching their court conditions in 2014.

The two people arrested yesterday by Ottawa Police after the Tanger Outlets shooting have been released without charges. Police are looking for two “persons of interest” in connection with yesterday’s events.

You can read eyewitness reports from yesterday’s events as they unfolded here.

Police say one person was taken to hospital with a non-life threatening injury after a shooting at Tanger Outlets in Kanata around 3:45pm on Boxing Day. Here’s a collections of tweets from journalists, shoppers and store employees.

It should only take five minutes to walk from Canadian Tire Centre to Tanger Outlets or Minto’s Arcadia neighbourhood, but City officials are advising pedestrians to take a bus, car or cab because the Huntmar Bridge is too dangerous.

We wrote last week about the lack of sidewalks on the bridge, which crosses the Queensway and connects Kanata North with Stittsville. When Tanger Outlets opened last Friday, on site parking quickly filled up and cars were directed to park at Canadian Tire Centre. The mall’s management provided shuttle buses to cross over Huntmar Bridge, and police were advising pedestrians to stay off the overpass.

Pedestrian traffic is closed over 417 at Huntmar. Tanger Outlets providing shuttles back & forth to CTC lot-pls use shuttles Stay off bridge

We asked the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), City of Ottawa, and local city councillors to comment on the issue.

Brandy Duhaime, a spokesperson with MTO, says that the province would only add a sidewalk if the City of Ottawa covered the cost. Any safety measures (including signage and enforcement) are the sole responsibility of the City.

Here’s the response we received from Vivi Chi, the City of Ottawa’s manager of transportation planning:

The Huntmar Road-Queensway overpass is not designed for safe or comfortable pedestrian travel. The City did engage with the Ontario government when the rehabilitation of the overpass was being planned to see if pedestrian/cycling facilities could be added to the structure. However, the existing structure cannot support a modified deck of any significant width to be beneficial for pedestrians and cyclists. It was suggested that a new footbridge be built adjacent to the existing one but this option is not affordable for the City as a stand-alone project.

The City is reviewing the need for signage in the area to keep pedestrians off the narrow overpass. Police have authority to enforce this prohibition.

The City’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP) does include enhancements to the area road system in the 2014-2019 period. One such project is the widening of Campeau Drive (from Huntmar to Didsbury). This new four-lane roadway running parallel to Highway 417 will serve the Tanger site and nearby new developments. Campeau Drive will have both cycling and pedestrian facilities and the development areas around the Tanger site will have additional parking.

In the long term, the eventual widening of Huntmar Road will also involve widening the overpass, and at that time, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure will be included. This is planned as a Phase 3 project for implementation in the period between 2026-2031.

We note that OC Transpo has begun transit service to the new Tanger development. Details are here:

(OC Transpo buses serving Tanger Outlets were detoured away from the shopping centre on Friday due to heavy traffic. Bus riders could transfer on to one of Tanger’s shuttles at Canadian Tire Centre.)

There currently are no sidewalk connections to Tanger Outlets or Arcadia. Besides Huntmar Bridge, the other linking roads are Huntmar to the north and the Queensway on-ramp to the west.

Shad Qadri, city councillor for Stittsville, says he’s concerned about pedestrian safety on the bridge, and he’s talked with city staff and councillors to find a solution.

“The discussions with west end councillors and staff have included the need to review bringing the widening of Huntmar Road to an earlier timeline in the TMP and we will continue to look into opportunities to do so,” he said.

Meanwhile to the east, there’s a similar problem on the Eagleson Road overpass. The bridge connects the Eagleson Park and Ride with Kanata North — but doesn’t have any sidewalks.

“Last year when it became known that the province had not included paved pathways to the Eagleson bridge in their work plans we began the process to ask for reconsideration,” said Allan Hubley, the councillor for Kanata South.

“I have had several meetings with staff for updates and expect an answer from the province after the election period,” he said.

Marianne Wilkinson, councillor for Kanata North, says she’s been working on getting sidewalks built for both bridges.

“I had asked MTO repeatedly to include a sidewalk on the Huntmar bridge but they said it couldn’t be accommodated,” she said.

Both the Eagleson and Huntmar overpasses underwent repair and maintenance work this summer.

Here are a few comments from our readers:

@StittsCentral this is a problem. Walk/bike/bus infrastructure impt for employees & patrons.

Maureen Miller-Lamoureux, via Facebook: “The article mentions that the municipality didn’t ask for sidewalks? Why? Did they not think they were needed? Does the city of Stittsville have a beef with walkers, bikers?”

Amanda Libbey Wittebol, via Facebook: “Wow! I was planning on walking there in the spring for sure (it would only be about half an hour) We always walk to the Canadian tire centre, but I guess a little further is out of the question.”

Despite repeated promises by #ottcity to prioritize #ottwalk and #ottbike, each new build demonstrates lack of follow through.

Mike Philpott, via Facebook: “I just dodged a few people who were walking to tanger outlets. Not safe at all!!”

Do you think the Huntmar Bridge needs sidewalks? Are there other areas in Stittsville that have poor pedestrian facilities? Tell us about it in the comments below or email feedback@stittsvillecentral.ca

I am a self-proclaimed expert outlet shopper. I venture across the border a couple times a year and snag as many off season deals as I can, to stock up for the next season. My children wear lots of brand name clothing but I can guarantee that I rarely pay more than clearance prices. So when I heard that Kanata was getting an outlet mall I got a bit excited.